What's New
January 2010 - Special Edition
Feastday Celebration and Blessed Marianne Cope Statue Installation in Hawaii
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Feastday Celebration The Feastday Celebration at St. Anthony's Motherhouse Shrine was beautiful! It began with the gathering song, "Blessed Mother Marianne" and a hearty "Aloha!" from Sr. Lina Pagdilao. The Knights of Columbus were present and the Most Reverend Robert J. Cunningham, Bishop of the Syracuse Diocese, presided, delivering a poignant homily (see below) in which he talked about Mother Marianne's sacrificial and giving spirit. At the end of the Mass, the Sisters sang "O Makalapua", Mother Marianne's favorite song, and it closed with the song "Blessed Mother Marianne" as the procession left the chapel. Connie Berry, the Editor of The Catholic Sun and two local news stations covered the event, and Channel 10 videotaped parts of the ceremony (click here for link to video). |
Mass in honor of Blessed Marianne Cope, January 23, 2010, Franciscan Motherhouse, Syracuse, NY, Most Rev. Robert J. Cunningham, D.D.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, May the Lord give you his peace!
It is a special joy for me to be with you today as we honor Blessed Marianne on her feast day. For those who have lived all their lives in the Syracuse area, you know well are works and her ministries and the profound influence she has had both here in our area and in the challenging mission field of Hawaii. Although I had read about her briefly in years past, I have come to know much more about her in these past several months. Be assured I join you in prayer that God will permit that she will soon be raised to the dignity of a saint.
But we know deep within our hearts that she is already our saint. Coming from Germany, being raised in Utica, entering the Franciscan sisters here, foundress of hospitals, teacher in schools, elected to community administration and adventurous missionary to Hawaii and nurse to those suffering from leprosy. Her dedication and her work are well known. What she was able to accomplish gives us joy and is the cause of our deep admiration.
In heroic ways she taught us that charity is faith in action. She truly served with a strength provided by God. She was willing to put her gifts at the service of others. What extraordinary gifts they were! Thirty-five years ministering far from the home that she had known here in Syracuse working with people who were truly the outcasts of society in a faraway land.
She brought life to the words of the gospel just proclaimed. Mother Marianne put into practice on a daily basis the Beatitudes. As Pope Benedict XVI said at the time of her beatification: “her generosity was, humanly speaking, exemplary.” “Good intentions and selflessness alone, however, do not adequately explain her vocation. It is only the perspective of faith which enables us to understand her witness -- as a Christian and as a religious -- to the sacrificial love which reaches its fulfillment in Jesus Christ." Mother Marianne by the beauty of her life and her deep devotion to the Lord points out the path that will lead to Him.
During this past week I could not help but think of the type of things that would occupy mother Marianne's time if she were with us today. An immigrant herself, she would be concerned about comprehensive legislation that would be fair and equitable to people seeking entrance into our country. She would have been in Washington yesterday advocating for the reverence and respect owed to each human life. Like St. Francis of Assisi who counseled that we preach by our lives but use words only when necessary, her silent witness would have preached The Gospel of Life. I could see her being in the front lines of those ministering to the sick and the suffering in the devastated country of Haiti. She would be here in our own diocese doing all that she could to educate the young and caring for the people of St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse and St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Utica. In short, she would be doing all that is recommended for each of us in the gospel today. And what an example she is!
May our own love and devotion for Blessed Marianne find expression in our own living out the Gospel values proclaimed at Mass today. And may we each continue to serve with the strength provided by God. That is my prayer as we continue our celebration of the Eucharist in honor of our own saint – Blessed Marianne Cope.
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